<<Print>>

Health facilities in the Birim Central Municipality in the Eastern Region have recorded no maternal deaths since January this year as against four during the same period in 2013. The Birim Central Municipal Director of Health Services, Miss Anastasia Atiogbe, made this known to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) when it paid a courtesy call on her at Oda last Thursday. She said the achievement was made possible due to the Community Health Programme and Service (CHPS) compound concept, which is aimed at increasing access to health service delivery and the commitment of health personnel at the various health facilities across the municipality. Limited resources She said despite their limited resources, they were able to bring quality health care to the people. Miss Atiogbe commended all stakeholders and the health staff in the district for their commitment to duty. She said inadequate staffing at the various facilities, lack of constant power supply, inadequate residential and office accommodation, poor community participation, among others, were some of the challenges of the health sector in the municipality. Miss Atiogbe said the directorate had put a lot of measures in place to ensure that the municipality record zero maternal death at the end of the year. This approach, she said, included activities such as health education on the importance of antenatal care and supervised delivery, intensification of activities of the antenatal unit and constant availability of ambulance services within the facility. Miss Atiogbe said other approaches such as lobbying for the posting of qualified midwives to the facilities and inter-sectarian partnership to advocate against cultural practices that prevented women from seeking ante-natal care when pregnant had been developed. She appealed to health personnel in the municipality to ensure that the area did not record any maternal death this year and the years ahead.